The End
by Little-Miss-Horror-Addict
Summary: AU. Most of civilization is ruined when zombies attack, but Edward Elric and his comrades are fighting to take their country back and find a cure. Pairings undecided. 1st chapter better summary.
1. Chapter 1: How It All Began

**Welcome to my story. I hope you enjoy it. Obviously, there's gonna be gore, violence and (Especially where Edward Elric is concerned) a helluva lot of swearing. At the moment, I'm unsure whether or not the rating is appropriate – I'm a bad judge of suitability, so message me if this is rated too low and I'll jack it up to M. You've been warned ;).**

**In this world by the way, it's Amestris – but they don't have alchemy although there still is automail. If I had put in alchemy, Roy wouldn't have a problem unless it rains...xD **

**If you wanna know basically why there's a zombie apocalypse, go to **http : // theoatmeal . com /comics /zombie _ how

.:The End:.

**Chapter 1: How It All Began**

'_The zombie apocalypse is a particular scenario of apocalyptic fiction that customarily has a science fiction/horror rationale. In a zombie apocalypse, a widespread (usually global) rise of zombies hostile to human life engages in a general assault on civilization. Victims of zombies may become zombies themselves. This causes the outbreak to become an exponentially growing crisis: the spreading "zombie plague" swamps normal military and law enforcement organizations, leading to the panicked collapse of civilian society until only isolated pockets of survivors remain, scavenging for food and supplies in a world reduced to a pre-industrial hostile wilderness._' Wikipedia 2010.

January 8th, 2009: Xing

The prince and heir to the throne of Xing looked out his window, until he heard a knock at the door. He turned around to see his bodyguard, Ranfan. She was tall and had medium length black hair and dark, beautiful eyes. She smiled softly. "Young Master, would you like me to accompany you anywhere today?" She asked.

The prince shook his head, approaching her. "You know you can call me Ling, when it's just the two of us."

She sighed and gestured behind her, to signal there were people who could over-hear nearby. "That would be disrespectful, young master." She said, grinning mockingly while keeping her tone completely respectful.

Ling laughed. "Of course. It's your choice. Let's go for a walk today."

She nodded. "Lead the way and I shall follow."

They walked with her two paces behind until the were out of sight, then ducked into the forest surrounding the sixteen year old prince's palace, where the walked for a little while until stopping.

Ling smiled and brushed her hair out of her face before sighing. "I wish we didn't have to be so secretive about this."

Ranfan stood on her tiptoes before pecking him on the lips. "But your father would kill me if he knew about us."

It was true, as royalty, Ling had to marry nobility, and having a relationship with someone as lower class as Ranfan would cause the Emperor to execute her, rather than taint his son.

Ling made a face. "Gah. It's not your fault I had to fall in love with you. My father should understand that."

Ranfan walked over to a nearby lake, before setting herself on a rotted tree trunk, that had fallen over in a massive lightning storm two years back. Ling joined her and put his arm around her. "At least we can spend all day here alone."

_-_-_-_

Risembul

Edward Elric walked down the main street of his sleepy town with his brother, Alphonse, as they bought their weekly groceries.

"This is so boring. I wish we could be in Central. I bet it's exciting in a city like that." Ed moaned, as his brother smiled patiently.

Four years ago, when Edward had been twelve and his brother eleven, they had been in a car crash, with claimed the life of both parents – Trisha and Hohenheim, as well as taking Edwards right arm and left leg (Which had been replaced with automail, by his neighbor). Alphonse had been incredibly lucky and had left the wreck relatively uninjured, apart from a mild concussion.

"Well all we need is a loaf of bread brother, then we're done." Al replied, smiling.

"E-excuse me sir?" A man in tattered clothes held out his hands in the general beggar's fashion. "Spare some change?"

Ed glared at the man. "Nope."

"No? Oh, well how 'bout a bite?" The man said, grabbing Ed's gloved right arm and biting into it.

"What the fuck you psycho? Get the fuck off me!" Edward kicked the guy in the face.

"Mmerrrmph!"

Ed looked up to see a woman limping towards them, although her skin was ghastly pale, and blood covered her white blouse.

"What the fuck?" Edward asked, looking at the contrast of the blood to the woman's face.

"Grrereegugh..." The woman groaned unintelligibly, before gaining an animal look in her eyes and charging at Alphonse.

Edward punched her in the stomach, then grabbed his brother's hand and pulled him down the street. A lot of people were doing the same, running for their homes and grabbing their family, while pale, blood covered people started charging. Alphonse watched in horror as one of them tackled a man and began ripping his throat out with its teeth.

"Holy Fucking hell! They're fucking zombies." Ed screeched, as he and his brother ran to the house of the person who they associated as family – Winry Rockbell – to warn her.

_-_-_-_

Central

The renowned Doctor Roy Mustang grinned at the female he walked past in the halls. "Why, Nurse Hawkeye, why don't you and I go to the rest room for a break?"

"That's Doctor Hawkeye, thank you very much." The woman, Riza, answered coldly.

Roy smirked. "But calling you nurse is so much sexier."

Riza raised an eyebrow. "You know, Roy, I'm very good at using guns, I grew up on a farm and my grand father taught me well."

"Hehe, never mind... Doctor." Roy said, ready to make a hurried escape.

A loud alarm sounded, one that was all to dreadful to the ears of both doctors.

"Quarantine." Riza murmured, with an annoyed expression, as every door and window in the hospital was automatically locked.

"Dammit and I had a date tonight." Groaned Roy.

Riza shook her head, then looked up suddenly as the sound of screams broke through the ward. "Every time there's a quarantine, people over react. I'll get the sedatives." She sighed.

"Shit!" Roy shoved Riza and punched at the blood covered man pouncing at her.

Riza looked down the hall, to see the reason of the screams weren't from over-reaction, but from the insane cannibalism going on.

"Oh my-" She was cut off as Roy pulled her into an empty office and shut the door tightly, locking it.

"Look for anything that could be used as a weapon." He commanded, and Riza smiled weakly as she lifted up her skirt slightly revealing a handgun.

Roy laughed humorlessly, then pulled out several disinfectants from a cupboard. "Highly flammable." He explained, then pulled out a lighter from his pocket, with a grin. "I think I was a pyromaniac in a past life."

_-_-_-_

Xing

"We're so late." Ling murmured watching as the sky grew to twilight. Ranfan smiled and slipped her hand out of his as they reached the end of the forest. They walked silently back to the palace, and when they were about halfway there Ling glanced behind him and stopped.

"Ranfan, look!" He said, pointing in the direction of the main city, quite a few miles from the palace. There were bright glows from buildings that could only be explained as fires. "Something big must've happened."

"Master Ling!" A voice came and the couple looked up to see one of the guards running towards them. "There's- It's- Chaos! Cannibalistic living dead everywhere. You must save yourself!"

"Living dead? Like zombies?" Ling asked.

"Exactly." The man agreed, then winced, his gaze traveling to his arm which was bloodied. "I've been bitten Master. You must kill me before the infection spreads."

"What!? No. You don't. There can't be. This has to be a joke. Tell me the truth, that's an order." Ling commanded.

The man smiled sadly. "I wish it were a joke Sir, I wish it was." He had gotten deathly pale.

Ranfan looked at Ling with a sorrowful expression. "Master." She said softly. "It would be best if we killed him."

Ling looked at her with indecision. "But, it's impossible."

The man growled as he jumped at Ranfan, catching her off guard and latching his teeth onto her left arm.

"Ranfan. No!" Ling cried, pulling the sword he always carried on him out of it's sheath and killed the man.

He grabbed Ranfan, falling to the floor. "No. I can't loose you! I'd rather die."

Ranfan smiled weakly, pulling a kunai from her belt with her right hand. She held it to her shoulder. "Let's see if I can stop it from spreading." She murmured.

Ling's eyes widened as he comprehended what she was about to do.

_-_-_-_

**Ahhh. Scary. As you can probably guess from the pen name, I love horror. This is my first fanfic, so Reviews will be very appreciated. Please tell me what you think of this story and whether I should continue with it or not. Thank-you. **

** ~ Little-Miss**


	2. Chapter 2: 1 Year Later

.:. The End .:.

Chapter 2: 1 Year Later

January 11th, 2010: Central

"Fucking hell. These bastards just keep on coming!" Edward moaned, kicking a zombie in the face. Alphonse sighed from inside the armour Edward had made him wear. It was their father's and Al was rather good at fighting in the suit of armour, not to mention zombies couldn't chew through it.

"I officially fucking hate Central."

"Brother, you've said that everyday for the last month."

"Yeah, well, it's true." Ed growled, taking down a few more.

From an old apartment building window, the two were being watching.

"Hey Ranfan, Look out the window, it's more people." Ling said, his eyes widening. "I don't think they'll be able to take down all those zombies themselves."

Ranfan smiled, grabbing a belt of flash bombs, kunais and other weapons. "Let's go save them." She said, knowing Ling wanted to. "It's been a couple of months since we last had non-brain dead company."

Ling grinned grabbing his sword. "Awesome."

_-_-_-_

"You know Riza, it's been a year since-"

"A year and three days since the world turned to hell." Riza cut in, walking through the halls of the abandoned hospital. "And we're back where we began."

"Well, we need more supplies. But as I was saying," Roy continued, holding the rather large and aggressive looking flamethrower he had grown accustomed to since the apocalypse began. "I think it's time we started looking ahead and -"

"If the next world out of your mouth is 'repopulate', Roy, then when we next get attacked by zombies in the rain, I'll trip you, rather than save you."

Roy gasped. "Ouch, Riza. Here I am, trying to increase mankind, and you're threatening me."

Riza rolled her eyes, glancing at her gun. "We should hit the military next, I've been wanting a better gun. You know, after you dropped the last one into a pit of living dead."

Roy and Riza had never really been friends, before the zombies came, but when it did happen it showed that they both had their strong points on surviving, and they had decided to stick together.

After about three months of living like this, seeing other humans became rarer and rarer, despite them being in the most populous city in the country. So much that the couple were amazed when they heard a rather loud explosion.

Roy looked straight towards Riza, awe on his face. "Could it be...?"

Riza smiled weakly. "Let's go see the source of this disturbance."

_-_-_-_

"Shit." Edward murmured, as he realized his brother and himself were surrounded, with no obvious exits. _I'm dead._ He thought.

BANG! An explosion sounded and suddenly about half of the mutants were on the ground, wailing in sickening, high pitched voices. In a flash of black and red, another group of them fell to the ground, leaving a path and Edward looked to the side to see who had saved them. A Xingese girl and boy, of about the same age as Ed, were smiling at him and panting slightly.

"Need a hand?" The boy asked, grinning as if they were old friends and not in the middle of a battle.

"Uh...yes?" Edward said. But his shock didn't last for long, as he jumped back into fighting.

At one point, Ed looked towards the Xingese girl, who was elbowing a zombie in the face, and for a moment, he was horrified, thinking she was about to get bitten. But the zombie's face connected with a blade, and he realized she had automail.

He looked back to the fight then, with a grin, thinking about all the weapons he could get Winry to add to his automail.

_-_-_-_

"Those kids are tough." Roy commented, watching the battle from the rooftop of a nearby building.

"Do we help them?" Riza asked with a troubled expression, and Roy knew she was thinking about what had happened a couple of months ago. They had jumped in to help these two girls who looked like they were about to get killed, but when they had jumped in to help, it had turned out to be a set up and they girls had turned their guns on Roy and Riza. This ended with two very happy, and dangerously armed girls, and two annoyed and unarmed doctors who swore they'd never trust anyone they didn't know again.

Although such a decision is hard to stick to when you can see a bunch of kids fighting for their lives. Surely this couldn't be a set up.

"The real question is, will your conscience survive if we don't." Roy replied.

Riza sighed, suddenly becoming determined. She cocked her gun. "Let's go then."

The ran down the fire escape of the building and right into the battle, helping the four teens take down the final surrounding zombies.

"Who're you?" A short blond boy asked, scowling suspiciously at the two doctors, now that the zombies had all been defeated.

"Dr. Riza Hawkeye and Dr. Roy Mustang." Riza said, smiling slightly.

Edward nodded. "Doctors." He mumbled, then looked at the Xingese boy and girl. "What about you two?"

The Xingese girl bowed, managing to look graceful and feminine, whilst covered in blood. "I am Ranfan, bodyguard of Xingese Royalty."

The Xingese boy waved casually with a grin. "I'm Ling, the Xingese Royalty. Although, I think it'd be kind of hard to rule over zombies, so scratch that idea."

Edward nodded, but made no move to introduce himself. His brother sighed. "I'm Alphonse and this is my older brother, Edward."

Roy Mustang smirked after a moment and clapped his hands together, as if that'd make everything go faster. "Well then, how about you kids join us in our little 'home' for tonight, and we can enjoy having some human company."

"Wait." Ed said, looking around. "Any of you get bitten?"

They all, thankfully, answered in the negative, and Ranfan shuddered slightly, remembering the pain she had felt when she had been bitten. She looked at the automail that now replaced that arm.

"Excellent." Roy said. "Then let's go."

**Hi!!! I'm so sorry it took so long for me to write this chapter, but my siblings decided to have a family get together in which i had to be social, so thus the late chapter. I hope all future chapters will be out earlier though. REVIEW PLEASE, it's the only reason I write. **

** ~ Little-Miss**


	3. Chapter 3: Keep Hope Alive

.:. The End .:.

Chapter 3: Keep Hope Alive

January 11th, 2010: Central (Evening)

The group entered an apartment building, Roy leading them up to the first story. It was plainly obvious which room the two doctors had claimed to be their own. The front door was metal, unlike the rotting wood of the other rooms, and Riza put her hands to her neck to pull on her thin chain necklace, bringing it up and revealing a key hanging off of the chain. She unattached the key and unlocked the deadbolt on the door, which made a clicking noise.

Inside was a room with two doors leading into different rooms, both doors were also metal and dead-bolted. The windows had been covered up by bits of wood nailed to the frames, securely. The room had been arranged with all furniture - which was merely a couch and a weapons cabinet - pressed up against the walls, leaving no room for hiding spaces. In other words, if zombies somehow managed to break in here, the second the occupants opened the door, they would see them.

"Welcome to our home!" Roy said, dumping his flame thrower in the weapons cabinet and throwing his jacket on the floor. Riza held the door open for them all to enter and then closed and locked it. Roy ignored the couch and went straight to sitting on the floor, the others joining him hesitantly. Despite having saved each other's lives, it was hard for them all to trust.

"So, where do we all come from?" Mustang asked, the only one who looked remotely comfortable with being in a room full of strangers.

"We're from Xing, obviously." Ling said, with a smile.

Riza looked vaguely interested. "Why'd you come to Amestris?"

"Because, we thought it might not be overrun with the living dead, and automail."

A few of them glanced at Ranfan's metal arm.

"You mean, you only just got the automail, when this all started?" Edward asked, looking amazed.

"I got bitten on my wrist, and decided it'd be better to live without an arm, then try to eat people." Ranfan replied, seriously.

"But how'd you survive? It takes so long to recover from automail." Alphonse questioned.

"It only took three months. I've been trained to be strong enough to do things like that."

Edward nodded. "'Cause you're a body guard?"

"Yes."

"What about you two? You're brothers right?" Roy asked, looking at the Elrics.

Alphonse took off his helmet, revealing a blond boy. "Yeah. Brother and I came here from Resembool, last month. We wanted to try and find more supplies."

"We left our childhood friend, Winry, behind in a room like this, filled with all the food we could find for her. She shouldn't run out for a couple of days, and hopefully we'll be back with food by then." Edward explained.

"Well then," Roy said, glancing at Riza. "We're just doctors from Central, with no wants for anything but living."

Edward smiled. "Doctors. Right. So are you like, specialists in any field?"

"I'm not, but Roy is a surgeon." Riza answered, feeling more at ease. Either these kinds meant no harm, or they were exceptional actors.

"Hmm." Edward murmured, looking at his brother who nodded slightly. Ed turned back to the doctors. "Have you ever thought of trying to find a cure for the zombie disease thing going round?"

Roy shook his head. "We wanted to at first, but it seems impossible."

Edward nodded slightly and pulled a notebook out of his pocket and threw it towards Roy. "We've been watching them for awhile. Finding out how long they can go without blood, how they react to things like, iron supplements, basic stuff like that. It's all in there."

Roy flipped through the pages, looking impressed. "That's, wow. You're very intelligent for your age."

"Our father was a scientist, he used to teach us bits and pieces, and after he died, we started to read his books and work, stuff like that. We picked up on it pretty fast." Edward explained.

"You've done alot." Roy murmured, still skimming the pages and pages of notes.

"We have another two of them that are full back home. Although none of it is really conclusive, due to certain variables which were beyond our control."

"Still," Roy said. "You've got some pretty good leads."

"Is it possible?" Ranfan asked, looking at Edward, wide eyed. "That it could actually be cured."

Edward shrugged. "I'm not giving up though."

"So you two are headed back to Resembool soon?" Roy queried.

"Yeah. We've got to get food first, but then we have to get back to Winry. She's been alone for a month."

Roy looked at Riza and she nodded. "Can we accompany you? We can give you all the medical knowledge you need."

"That's awesome." Edward grinned. "What about you two? You're both awesome at combat."

Ling smiled. "Nothing better to do, I guess."

"That's fucking fantastic!" Edward said, his eyes lighting up.

It was amazing how, the chance meeting between them all managed to restore one thing the six people had lost one year ago: Hope.

Riza stood up and walked over to a cardboard box, out of which, she pulled a candle and a box of matches. Having all the windows covered up made the room exceptionally dark, especially as it was coming to night time. She handed Roy both objects, it was routine for her to let him light their candles as she knew how much he loved playing with fire. And they had learnt that in a world such as this, It's best to enjoy the little things.

"It's getting too dark to be able to do anything tonight, really. So we should probably get as much sleep as we can before tomorrow, when we can get food and everything we'll need to get back to Resembool."

"Right." Edward agreed. "So, is it safe enough in here, or should we take it in turns to watch out?"

"We should probably do sentries, just in case." Roy said. "Maybe if we stayed up two at a time, we could all watch for three hours and get six hours sleep."

"Does anyone care when they go?" Riza asked. They all shook their heads. "Okay then. How about you two first," She gestured to Ling and Ranfan, "Then Roy and I, and finally the brothers."

They all agreed and Riza smiled and gestured to the furtherest door. "That is the bathroom. The key is in the weapons cabinet, to the left. That key also fits with the bedroom," She pointed to the other door, "Which is basically a room with a bunch of mattresses on the floor. Whoever is on sentry can use the showers, one at a time, obviously," She gave Toy a wary glance. "And all the food we have is in that box. It's canned peaches currently, and since we're leaving tomorrow just take one and feast away if you're hungry."

"Well then." Roy said, standing. "We'll go to bed, and Ling and Ranfan was it?" They nodded. "You can just wake us at..." He checked his watch. "10 O' clock."

"Good night."

_-_-_-_

January 12th, 2010: Central

The next morning they all set out in a nice, big, hot-wired car, courtesy of Roy. Their first destination was the military headquarters, where they stocked up on ammo and weapons. Next up they went to the hospital, and stole a heap of medical equipment and medication that they may need. And finally, they arrived at the supermarket.

They entered the front door warily, it would be hard to know how many zombies were in there as the row after row of shelves homed as very good hiding places.

"Should we stay as a group, or split up?" Alphonse asked, who had opted to go without his armour for the time being.

Roy smirked in a way that made Ed want to back away slowly. "Neither." Roy stated, he turned to Riza.

She sighed. "You're going to bait me again, aren't you?"

She rolled her eyes and paced a metre or two in front of the group and to the left. Everyone but Roy watched curiously.

Riza took a deep breath and...started to scream in a terrified voice.

"OH my goodness!" She squealed, her voice sounding like a teenage girl who was having a panic attack, but her expression was calm. "Zombies. Don't eat me!"

There was a rattling down one of the far aisles, and Riza cocked her gun in the direction with a smirk.

"They get all excited when they hear women screaming, thinking they have a chance at a meal. It lures them out." Roy explained, watching Riza with admiration.

A zombie ran straight for Riza, but she was ready and took it down with two bullets to the head. It fell to the ground and Riza approached it.

She aimed the gun at its head and shot twice more, then turned to the group. "Remember kids, always double tap."

"Double tap?" Alphonse asked hesitantly.

Roy nodded. "Shoot them when they're down, to make sure they wont grab your ankles when your back is turned." He explained.

"Okay, keep an eye out and grab anything that will last. Canned food, drinks, that kind of thing." Riza instructed.

They all nodded and went off in their usual groups of two, one to watch the back and one to grab the food. It only took them about half an hour to completely ravage the store of every food item they found useful, and meet back at the front.

"Okay, you might as well grab something to eat now." Riza said, gesturing towards the shelves. They all grabbed something and went back out to the truck.

"Can you kids drive trucks?" Roy asked, looking at the adolescents.

"I can." Ranfan said, then frowned slightly. "I don't even know why i had to learn that for my training."

"In case zombies attacked?' Ling suggested.

"Okay, well Riza, Ranfan and I will ride in the front and take turns in driving. You three, get in the back, and try not to set off any bombs or anything."

"Time to go to Resembool." Riza said, closing the back of the truck with the three teenage boys in it.

"Two hours of driving each, should do it." Roy said, helping both the girls into the front, before going around to the drivers seat. He smirked in the way that had previously had the ability to make girls faint, and started the vehicle.

_-_-_-_

Three and a half hours later and Riza was driving the truck. Roy looked like he was about to fall asleep, until his pocket started to sing. He looked down and pulled out his mobile phone, knowing there was only one person who would try to reach him that could manage to get through to someone via mobile. (Pretty sure maintaining phone lines aren't first priority for survivors of a zombie apocalypse)

Roy opened it without looking at the caller id. "Hello."

"Roy? Is that you? Are you okay? Is Riza with you still?" Came the voice on the other end.

"Yeah, Maes, we're both fine."

"Wow, that's good to know." Maes Hughes was a paramedic at the hospital - and Roy's best friend, despite the fact that Hughes had been completely obsessive with his family, and had a habit of throwing a barrage of photos upon unsuspecting strangers.

"Is..." Roy paused, not knowing whether he wanted to know how Maes' wife and five year old daughter were. "...Everything okay?" He settled for.

Maes sighed. "Yeah, my girls are safe. Little Elicia is being soo brave and Gracia is just fantastic. They're safe, don't worry. I was just calling to make sure..."

"Yeah, I know." Maes managed to hack the phone lines every month and Roy was always the only person he'd call.

"Still in Central?" Maes asked.

"On my way to Resembool, actually."

"Resembool...Why there?"

"We ran into these two genius brothers, and a pair of really good Xingese fighters. And the brothers think they can cure the disease, so we're giving them help. Resembool is their home town and it has more of their research notes there."

"That's... hopeful." Maes replied.

Roy smiled. "Yeah."

"Okay, well tell Riza, Gracia says hi. And we all send our love. I should go now."

"Thanks. Bye."

"See ya." Maes added. "I'll definitely see ya." And then he hung up.

Roy smiled as he hung up the phone. Maes was probably Roy's biggest reason for living. He was like family to Roy, and Mustang probably would given up by now if it weren't for him. Roy passed on the message to Riza, who smiled slightly, then looked up in the review mirror.

"Oh my." She said, gesturing for Roy to look in the mirror too.

Ranfan glanced out the window, to see about fifty zombies running after the van. Zombies may be brain dead cannibals, but they were damn fast.

"Fuck." Roy said, as he watched them. "Can we go any faster?"

Riza shook her head. "We'll run out of fuel before we get to Resembool if we do."

"What should we do then?" Roy asked.

Ranfan smiled. "Slow down as much as you can, but keep going." She said, opening the door to the truck.

"What are you doing?"

"It's fine, I used to ride on top of trains all the time, to get a free ride." She murmured, closing the door and using the window as leverage to climb on top of the truck. She had to hold on tight for a few seconds, to get used to the wind rushing by, but Riza was slowing down the truck as she'd asked, so it was getting easier. Ranfan slowly crawled along the roof of the truck, until she got to the other end. The zombies were a good ten metres away.

She smiled while grabbing a bomb of her belt, which she ripped the top off with her teeth and threw the bomb at the crowd.

Bang! Ranfan ducked her head to avoid get hit by any blood...or chunks of zombie. She shuddered at the thought, and after a moment looked up to see there were still a few more persistent little cannibals chasing them still.

She threw another bomb, carrying out the same method as last time. When she looked up they were all inanimate... very gross looking, but inanimate.

Ranfan grinned and crawled back along the truck before climbing back through the window. She smiled victoriously.

"Never, ever will I get on your bad side." Roy promised, in awe.

Riza smiled. "You did exceptionally."

Meanwhile, the three teenage boys were sitting in the back of the truck, blissfully unaware of everything that had just happened.

_-_-_-_

A couple of hours later (after Roy volunteered to do Ranfan's shift for her, in case they needed someone to climb the truck again) they arrived, in Resembool.

It was a sleepy little town, with paddocks and paddocks. Due to it having a low population_ before_ the apocalypse had started, Resembool was like a ghost town now. Roy slowed down the truck as he got to the front of the house that Edward had given him the directions to, checking to make sure no zombies were going to run at them, and stopping when he was finally pleased.

They got out of the front, and walked to the back of the truck, opening the big back door of the truck. "We're in Resembool, boys." Riza announced.

Ling jumped out of the tuck straight away, but Edward and Al just sat, frozen. "We're...here?" Edward asked.

Roy nodded. "Let's go."

Alphonse looked torn. "But what if...?" He trailed off, not having the courage to say what he and his brother were hoping against.

Roy's expression softened and he held a hand out to each boy. "You won't know until we go in there." He said, wishing he could reassure them, but there was a chance that the girl could've been injured.

Edward nodded. "Right." He agreed, and he and Alphonse allowed Roy to help them out of the truck.

They closed the tuck up and walked up to the door of the barricaded home, Ed and Al leading the way.

Edward knocked hesitantly on the door. "Winry." He called, hoping to a god he didn't believe in that she was okay. "We're home."

**Well, that took hours. But I was trying to make it a bit longer, as was shinespire's request, i hope i did alright. Thank you so much to: shinespire and IceFire Dragon Alchemist73 for reviewing the first chapter, and shinespire and PaperBagGhost for reviewing the second chapter... Remember, Reviews are my inspiration - and tell me what pairings you want, if any. ~ Little-Miss**


	4. Chapter 4: Making Plans

**Hey everyone. My most sincerest apologies, it's been ages. I'm sorry! Really sorry. So, anyways, I shall try my hardest to update regularly from now on, I promise.**

.:. The End .:.

Chapter 4: Making plans

_They closed the truck up and walked up to the door of the barricaded home, Ed and Al leading the way._

_Edward knocked hesitantly on the door. "Winry." He called, hoping to a god he didn't believe in that she was okay. "We're home."_

January 12th, 2010: Resembool

Silence. Edward's started to tremble slightly, and Al was just staring at the door, hopefully. "Win?" Edward murmured.

Roy glanced at Riza and she frowned. "Are you sure she's here? Could she have gone somewhere?" She asked the two brothers.

"We told her to stay. She had enough supplies and she promised me..." Ed murmured.

"Maybe she didn't hear you knock." Ling suggested.

Ed took a deep breath and held his hand up to the door, when it suddenly swung open, causing the two brothers to jump back. At the door stood a pretty blond girl, with bright baby blue eyes, "Ed! Al!" She squealed, throwing her arms around them. "You're okay!"

Alphonse sighed in relief and hugged her back, but Edward just looked at her, worried. "Are you okay, Win? Have you stayed inside all this time? Did you have enough supplies?"

She stepped back with tears in her eyes. "I was fine. It was a bit scary at nights when I could hear screaming. But everything's okay now. You're back!"

Edward grinned. "Yep, and we found some people, too."

Winry turned her gaze to behind the two boys, at the four people watching the scene somewhat awkwardly. Winry blushed slightly, realizing these strangers had just seen her emotional display, but turned back to the brothers and lowered her voice. "Are they safe?"

Edward shrugged. "I barely know them, myself. But I figure we have a higher survival rate with two doctors and two experienced fighters."

Winry looked back at them warily, but her whole face lighted up when she noticed something.

Noticing her grin, Ranfan took a step back self-consciously.

"Is that... Automail?" Winry asked, looking at Ranfan's left arm in joy.

Ed sighed and shook his head. "Automail junkie." He murmured playfully.

"Science geek." She retaliated instantly, poking her tongue out at him.

The moment was so childish and like old times, that the two both grinned at each other for a moment, before turning back to the guests. "Everyone should come in, now." Winry said, smiling and holding the door open. Ed and Al walked through and so the other four followed.

They all sat down in the living room, which was now void of all furniture except for a few cushions on the floor. Edward left quickly with Roy, to show him his two other research books.

"I'm Winry." The blond introduced herself, smiling hesitantly at the three strangers in her living room.

"I'm Riza." Riza replied, then looked towards the Xingese teenagers. "And that's Ranfan and Ling."

Ling grinned. "Hiya."

Ranfan looked up to realize Winry was staring at her automail...again. She sighed. "You're Edward's mechanic?"

Winry looked up. "Huh, oh yeah. I've always loved automail."

Ranfan nodded holding out her metal arm. "You can look at it, if you want."

Winry grinned. "Really?"

Riza looked to Al and Ling. "Do you two want to help me bring some food in from the truck, so we can have some dinner?"

They both agreed and followed Riza out of the house.

_-_-_-_

After about an hour of eating, fixing up automail and reading notes, the crew were all about ready to start getting to bed.

"So, what's happening next?" Riza asked Roy and Edward, who were putting away the younger one's notes.

Roy looked to Edward. "Is there anywhere in-" He began, but was cut off by beeping.

Roy quickly grabbed his phone out of his pocket, hoping nothing was wrong as Hughes never called so often.

"Hello?"

"Roy! So I was doing some research with Gracia, she's so helpful and little Elicia was being a good little girl while we were working, they're both so wonderful- really I don't know why you never wanted to marry and have kids, family is a joyous thing-"

"Is there a reason you're calling Hughes?" Roy interrupted.

"Oh, right. Yes. While we were researching, we found this rumour that there is a man who has found the cure to err... zombieism, with the help of some God. I thought you might want to know about it."

"Sounds... interesting to say the least." Roy murmured. "Where is this man?"

"Ever heard of Lior?" Hughes asked. "It's this remote little town out near the desert. There are at least twenty people who are there, in the hopes that he can cure their loved ones and what have you."

"Right, well I'll tell the others about that and see if we want to do something about it."

"Sure thing." Hughes replied. "Well then, I better go now, oh and I'll be calling you again as soon as I have anything to go by. See you real soon, Roy boy."

"Likewise, Hughes. Say hi to the family for me."

"Haha, you got it." He finished, hanging up.

Roy paused for a moment before hanging up the mobile. Hughes was about the most reliable guy you could meet. He had this urge to try and help people out in anyway he could even if he wasn't asked to.

"Your mobile works?" Edward asked, curiously.

Roy nodded. "I have a friend who's every good with stuff like that."

"What did Hughes want? Is Elicia and Gracia doing okay?" Riza queried.

"He was just telling me that there's some rumour, that a man in Lior claims that God is helping him cure zombieism. Hughes wanted to tell us in case we wanted to look into it."

Ed frowned slightly. "I stopped believing in God the day I found out Winry's parents had died. Then when our parents..." He murmured thoughtfully.

Winry smiled sadly. "Even if it turns out to be false, what if the claim isn't? We could have missed getting some pretty valuable information."

"Well..." Roy began, stretching. "I guess we could turn it into a vote. Who's up for checking out Lior?"

Everyone raised their hand, convinced from what Winry had said. Roy laughed. "Well, Lior it is then. We should make a plan and get things ready tomorrow and then on Thursday we could get going."

"But first we should start getting to sleep. Roy and I can take the first sentry, and Winry can take hers with the brother's, I suppose.

"Lior is in the desert, isn't it?" Winry asked.

Roy nodded. "We have to cross the desert to get there, yes."

Winry thought for a moment. "Well then, if it's okay with you guys, I could stay up and start preparing some automail for Ed and Ranfan with a cooling system, so their skin doesn't get burnt by the metal."

Riza nodded. "Sounds like a good idea. Okay, everyone else, get to bed. We'll wake Ed and Al up next."

The four teenagers, excluding Winry, agreed and left for upstairs, where the bedrooms are. Winry then said goodnight to Roy and Riza before heading into her workshop to work on some automail.

"What do you think, about Lior, I mean?" Riza asked Roy quietly.

"I'd like to believe it, but I can't." Roy murmured. "I have a feeling it's just a hoax. But like Winry said, if we don't go, we'll be plagued with what-ifs until the day we die."

Riza nodded. "That's how I feel, too."

Roy smiled, caressing his flamethrower. "At least it doesn't rain much, out in the desert."

"Pyro." Riza murmured.

Roy laughed. "That's right. You can't spell Pyro, with R-O-Y."

Riza shook her head with a smile, it was impossible to be depressed when Roy was around, she'd come to learn. He always managed to act with a light mood, despite the happenings of the world. He was one of the only things that had kept Riza moderately sane.

**Sorry again. This is only half the size of the last one, but I wanted to get something out ASAP. So, are there any pairings you guys want for this story? You'll notice in the last two chapters I haven't made any mention of the characters being in a relationship. So tell me what pairings you want, I'm willing to right anything that doesn't involve incest or pedophilia. **

**REVIEW and make me write faster. ~ Little-Miss  
**


	5. Chapter 5: Lior

.:. The End .:.

Chapter 5: Lior

January 14th, 2010: Lior

"Children on God who live on this earth, have faith and thous shalt be saved. The God of the sun, Leto, enlightens thy path. Behold, having descended from his throne, the Lord shall save thee from thy sins.... As a messenger of the sun God, I am your father." The words spurted out of the radio, above them.

"A radio broadcast of a sermon?" Alphonse asked, his voice echoing from the suit of armour he was wearing.

"A messenger of God...? What's that?" Edward asked.

This town, was weird. Although it had been set up, with people, mainly men, acting as guards, patrolling the borders, there were still holes in their defenses - considering the group of seven had gotten through without notice.

The first thing they had decided was to split up. Winry with Ed and Alphonse, and the remaining four in a separate group, to try and get as much info as they could. This left the former group in the centre of the town, where they had ran into a man. They were about to start asking questions, but he hushed them up once the radio - however it was still working was unknown to the three - started spouting what sounded a lot like garbage to Edward.

"What's with this broadcast?" Winry asked th e man, pushing her bangs out of her face, a sign of discomfort from the heat emanating from this desert city.

The man gasped. "You haven't heard of Lord Cornello?"

A pause. "Who?" Edward attempted to clarify.

"Founder Cornello! Messenger of Leto the sun God." The man replied, as if this was knowledge as common as 'the sky is blue'.

"Please elaborate. My friends and I come from far away and have lived in hiding for

practically a year." Winry said, politely.

"Lord Cornello came here at the start of the so called apocalypse. He managed to actually cure a man of his cannibalistic disease, when there was no help left for him. Ever since then, the residents of Lior and travelers alike have bound together to help him. It is prophesied that by the year 2012, Founder Cornello will have found the strength to cure the world of zombism."

"That sounds-" Edward began, but he was cut off by Winry.

"Fantastic! How can we help?" She asked, knowing Edward had the trait of saying the wrong things at the wrong time and managing to piss off entire villages.

"Hello, there, my isn't it lively today?" Came a soft female voice.

"Oh, hello Rose." The man answered with a smile.

The woman, was pretty with pink and brown hair and a sweet smile. She - Rose - glanced at the three unfamiliar faces and smiled. "Have we found some more followers?" She asked.

"Yeah, these kids say they want to help out." The man answered casually.

"That's fantastic!" Rose said, her eyes lighting up. "Why don't you three follow me?"

"Okay, thanks." Winry said, as the three followed Rose away.

"May Leto protect you!" Rose called back to the man, who nodded and began to walk in the opposite direction.

"I'm Rose." She said to the three and gestured to a bag in her hands. "And before we get started I've got to feed my boyfriend."

"I'm Alphonse." The suit of armour greeted politely, "And this is Winry and my older brother, Edward."

"You guys are lucky you came here." Rose told them. "Father Cornello is going cure the cursed."

"So I keep hearing." Edward murmured.

The arrived at a big building, that looked slightly run-down, but still in pretty good shape. It was a police station. Rose entered with them, and led them through empty rooms that had once been offices and to some double doors. Before opening the doors she turned to the three.

"Now, don't be afraid. This is just a place for those waiting to be cured." And she threw open the doors, revealing the holding cells and unintelligible moaning. As Edward realized what this place was, he gently but insistently pushed Winry out of the room.

"Stay out here." He directed her, seeing a glimpse of rear in her eyes, which she covered up almost instantly.

"What is this place?' She asked.

"It looks like..." Edward explained. "A holding ground for zombies."

_-_-_-_

"Well, this settles it." Roy announced. "I hate Lior."

"Agreed." Ling concurred.

"You two should know better than to blatantly tell these people all the reasons why their God can't possibly exist." Riza murmured, sighing.

Ranfan just growled, continuing to rattle her chains.

"We're going to die." Roy moaned. "We''ll be eaten alive."

"Chances of that happening were already pretty high." Riza commented.

After splitting up, the four had gone straight to church, rather than the town centre, where they had met the 'holy man' in charge of the whole deal, Cornello.

"I shall cure all poor sufferers of this disease, as I am the messenger of Leto, the Sun God." Cornello had stated grandly.

Ling snorted. "Yeah.... right."

"Do you... not believe?" Cornello asked dramatically.

Roy chuckled. "How could there be a God of a giant flaming ball of gas?" He mocked.

Riza sighed, putting her face in her hand and Ranfan started to scout the area for any possible exits.

"Non-Believers," Yelled Cornello. "Send them to the poles! They can see the true power of Leto by first hand!"

"I have no idea what the poles are, but I have a feeling the term 'Oh, crap' is appropriate here." Roy commented.

Half an hour later, they had all be handcuffed to a pole, a little bit out in the desert, where the guardsmen had informed them, the zombies visited nightly. It was about two hours until sundown and they had found that the hand cuffs and poles were much too strong for them to break.

"I hate Lior. I hate Cornello. I even hate that non-existent God of his." Roy moaned.

Riza jerked her head towards a man that was approaching them. He was one of the guards and was holding a sword.

"Still alive I see, treacherous scum." He commented.

"Yep, it appears so." Ling replied, grinning at the man.

He scowled. "Cornello isn't joking. You'll all be dead -or worse- by the morning light tomorrow."

"No." Shouted Riza, feeling all her built up anger and annoyance from the past year start to explode. "You listen here - you are going to let us go, because so help me, the consequences if you don't will NOT be pretty. And I am completely serious. If it means I have to come back and haunt the hell out of you, I. Will. Do. That."

"Riza, calm down." Roy began. He had been planning on talking his way out of this one.

"No, she's right." Ranfan joined in, giving up on trying to break the handcuffs for a moment. "I am not getting eaten alive because of something as stupid as this. Zombie bites hurt, a lot."

"No wonder Cornello sent you out here. You people are deranged!" The man said.

"Oh, honey, I'll show you deranged." Ranfan growled, and Riza's glare promised the same thing.

"Well, Cornello told me to speed things up. And since you seem to be the mouthiest little bitch..." He trailed off, raising his sword and stabbing Ranfan in the leg.

"Holy mother of hell." She cursed gritting her teeth as he pulled the sword out.

The mistake the man made, was that by stabbing Ranfan, he came a little to close to Roy, who was handcuffed to the pole beside her. Roy grabbed him by the shirt and the man was so shocked he dropped his sword as Roy pulled him.

"Keys." Roy growled. "Now!"

The man laughed. "You think I'll give up that easily? You don't even have a weapon."

"But I do." Ranfan murmured, holding up her non-handcuffed arm - which was also her automail one, showing the blade that came attached. "And I am very pissed off."

"Keys." Roy repeated.

The man gulped, knowing he was defeated and reached into his pocket, and the second Roy let his guard down slightly, the man managed to step out of his grasp.

"Please, you don't scare me. See you in the after life. You'll be there a lot sooner than me, especially with missy there bleeding so much - the blood is bound to attract our flesh-eating friends all the sooner." He picked up his sword and began to run away.

Ranfan fell to the ground, unable to stand with the pain any longer and probably getting sand in her that she cared anymore.

"We're dead." Roy moaned, hopelessness leaking it's way into his voice for the first time since the apocolypse.

_-_-_-_

***Gasp* An update! I know... I'm sorry it took a month. But be expecting the next one soon. REVIEWS keep me inspired. ~Little Miss**


	6. Chapter 6: They're Coming

.:. The End .:.

Chapter 6: They're Coming

January 14th, 2010: Lior (Evening)

"Don't worry Edward. Cornello will cure them all soon." Rose said, a faint smiled playing upon her face as she led him deeper into the prison. Cell after cell, each filled with zombies, who pushed themselves at the bars, reaching out, in hopes to grab some flesh.

Edward shuddered. He had told Al to stay behind with Winry. No need to traumatize either of them any further. Although, he was beginning to regret not staying with them. This place reeked of blood. Rose stopped suddenly at one of the cells and smiled affectionately at the... creature inside. It reached out at her, furiously growling.

She smiled at it. "It's okay Kain. I've brought you some food." Rose reached into her bag and threw some hunks of meat at him, which it grabbed and started to devour instantly.

"It's animal meat." Rose said, noticing Edward's disgusted look.

"You people are all fucked."He said, shaking his head, as he backed away. "We're getting the hell out of here."

Edward stormed out of the cell, dodging the grasping hands that came towards him.

"Edward!" Rose called after him, and he could hear her running for him.

"We're finding Mustang and the others and we are leaving." Edward growled, pushing open the doors of the building and leading Winry and Al with him.

"Edward, wait." Rose called after him. "I have to take you to Cornello."

"Bull shit, am I going to your fanactical little fucking preach fest." Growled Ed, not bothering to look back at the girl.

"Edward!" She squealed.

A man walking by, with a cloak over his head, turned and looked towards the direction of Edward. "Excuse but are you Edward Elric, older brother of Alphonse Elric and son of Hohenheim and Trisha- both deceased?" The man asked.

Edward stopped short and looked at the man, who pulled down the hood to his cloak and smiled, pushing up his glasses.

"How do you know that and who the HELL are you?" Edward asked, ferociously.

The man grinned. "Before I tell you that... I have something to show you." The man began reaching into his cloak, but looked up at Rose as he pulled out a big book.

Rose looked completely terrified of whatever the man had in his hands.

"You can go now Rose, I'll make sure Edward gets... taken care of."

_-_-_-_

Rattle...rattle...rattle...rattle...clink.

"Damn it."

"Roy..."

Clink.

"Roy."

Rattle.

"Please stop it Roy. No matter how much you shake the cuffs, nothing is going to happen. We're dead." Riza said, sighing.

She looked up at everyone in order of which pole they were at. First, there was Ling, who had managed to pull on the chain, so that he was right next to Ranfan, who was second, his arm around her as she stared void into the desert. She had wrapped some cloth torn from her pants around her leg wound, and there was a fair bit of blood where the two were sitting, but they didn't move because it was the only place where they could reach each other. And next to Ranfan, was Roy, who was sitting on the ground, tugging halfheartedly on the chain he knew would never come loose.

Riza was at the fourth pole, the only one who still had the effort to stand. Riza had decided long ago that when she died - she'd die on her feet.

Rattle. Clink... Clink. Clink. Rattle...

Roy finally dropped the chain and scowled. "Fuck this."

"Don't be sick Roy, it's an inanimate object." Riza joked, weakly.

Roy paused for a moment, before looking over at Ling and Ranfan, she was now practically in his lap and they were looking into each others eyes silently. The kind of romantic crap that Roy has always avoided.

"Riza...?" Roy began, turning back to the blond, who was standing as tall and proud as ever.

"Yes, Roy?"

Roy smiled at her, in what he assumed was sweetly. "Wanna be my last kiss?"

_-_-_-_

The cloaked man grinned as Rose left and opened the book to a random page. The book was... a photo album.

"This is my daughter Elicia. Isn't she the cutest?" The man asked.

"Aww.." Winry murmured, with a smile.

"Who the hell are you?" Edward demanded.

"I'm Maes Hughes. And you are traveling with Roy Mustang. Care to tell me where he is?"

Edward paused for a moment, as everything clicked. "You're that... guy, that's been calling. The one who sent us to this insanely fanatical town!"

"Ah, yes. Well, knowing Roy would be here, I decided to come here myself, to meet you all and lend you a hand." Hughes said, brushing his short, black hair back with his fingers.

Edward nodded. "But what about your family?"

"Bomb shelter, with plenty of food, water and other resources. I'm doing this so they can live safely." He replied seriously.

"So, what happens now?" Winry asked.

"We find Roy." Hughes replied. "He's a better leader than I am. I used to think that he'd become Fuhrer one day."

Edward snorted.

"I think they said they were going to check out the church first off." Alphonse commented.

"Yes, well let's go." Winry said.

They began to walk towards the church, but paused when they heard an earsplitting screech.

"What's that noise?" Winry asked, feeling truly freaked out.

"Zombies." Maes answered gravely. "They come back every night, in hopes to get a feeding."

"Is it safe, inside the city?" Alphonse asked.

Maes smiled, slightly. "Yeah, soldiers patrol the city at night time heavier than they do during the day."

_-_-_-_

She was dehydrated. Yeah, that was it. And hallucinating, people hallucinate in deserts all the time, right? Not to mention she was probably going to be dead soon. That had to be why, right this moment, Dr Riza Hawkeye was making out with the (ex) womanizer of Central.

Not out of attraction or anything. And she Definitely wasn't enjoying it.

Well, maybe a little, but she was hallucinating, remember?

"Rarreggggggggh." Growling off to the distance. The zombies were coming.

"Oh Fuck." Riza murmured in despair. They would all be dead soon. But that only encouraged her to pull Roy closer, not letting him back away.

"I should have gotten you in a near death situation sooner." Roy murmured, smiling weakly.

Riza laughed. She was almost hysterical. In a way, kissing Roy was the only thing keeping her sane at the moment. Distracting her from her impending death.

"Graaaampppphhh." They were getting closer. So much closer. They'd be there very soon.

Ling looked to Ranfan, who was calmly resting her head on his shoulder. She was secretly screaming inside, terrified of what was to come - but had had years of training to teach her how to keep her cool during certain death.

"Go out fighting?" Ling asked, stroking her hair softly.

"I always knew i'd die fighting." She murmured. "Life is just one big battle where there are no survivors. Some just have a longer battle then others."

Ling chuckled slightly, kissing her forehead. "I love you."

"I love you too. More than life itself."

"More than life." He agreed.

They both stood, holding hands while they looked in the distance. They could now make out the distinct outlines of the rabid creatures.

"Shouldn't we stop so we can at least try to fight?" Roy asked, an arm still around Riza's waist.

" I don't want to see them coming." She said bringing her lips back to his.

"About 30 seconds." Ling murmured.

"29." She continued, squeezing his hand softly.

"28."

_-_-_-_

"Shit."

"What is it, Hughes?" Edward asked, as the older man finally came outside of the church, where the other three were waiting.

Hughes looked up at Edward, a look of horror on his face. "I... I think we're too late."

**Oh no! D: . Now you all have to decide whether i'm the type of author(ess) who likes to kill off main characters. Mwahahahaha! REVIEW and I may consider letting them all survive! ~ Little Miss.**


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